


Miracu-mom

by Purpledragon6



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Nathalie is a former miraculous holder in this au., au in which Adrien is raised by Nathalie, miracu-mom au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-09-30 17:39:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10168274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purpledragon6/pseuds/Purpledragon6
Summary: An AU in which, after the disappearance of his mother, a baby Adrien is raised by a former miraclous holder, Nathalie.





	1. Chapter 1

Motherhood was the last job Nathalie ever thought she would have to add to her list of occupations, but when she found the position open it was quickly taken up. Taken up and just as quickly was it stressed over to every degree. Book upon book on parenting was checked out of every library in Paris that had one available, and every spare moment was set aside to read them all- Or at least attempt to read them.

'Children, much like their parents, are often taught respect and kindness to others at a very young age. Those lessons often pay off immensely.'

Nathalie glared softly at the opened parenting book, finding that even after reading that sentence over three times- she was still at a complete and utter loss. Not a single word seemed to be getting absorbed in her sleep deprived brain, and it was honestly driving her mad. Though, not as mad as the reason for her lack of sleep was currently driving her, but that was another story.

Looking about herself, she took in the look and feel of the pale blue rug under her, and the matching crib off to her left. Beside her, the crib's only occupant, Adrien, was exploring the floor. The child was halfway through discovering the fibers of the rug, when he switched directions and crawled closer to Nathalie, using her knee as a brace to help pull himself up to her height... And then grabbing a fistful of her hair once he was close enough.

"A-Adrien!" She groaned, looking down at the little one at her side.

The blonde child, only 7 months old, belonged to her boss. However, ever since the loss of his wife (however he lost her- Nathalie didn't feel it was in her place to ask), and mother to said child, she quickly found herself filling in as an impromptu-mother. Not that Adrien seemed to notice the difference, as he pulled hard at her hair once again in an attempt to bring her attention even more to him than it already was.

"... I'm going to have to start wearing it back." She noted out loud, gently scooping her ward up and kissing his forehead. "At least until we teach you not to pull."

7 month old Adrien only smiled sweetly up at her, batting his little eyelashes curiously, almost as though he didn't understand what he had done wrong. With a soft smile, Nathalie sighed and looked around the nursery for something for Adrien to play with. For her own safety, she had begun putting away any stray toys that had been left on the floor, but there always stood the chance that she had forgotten one.

A quick combing of the floor revealed that this was not one of those times. Sighing for what felt like the millionth time that day, she pulled herself and the baby off of the floor and went over to the nearby toy chest. Opening it, she made quick work to remove a ducky toy and a rattle, closing the box before Adrien had a chance to become interested in anything else in the box.

Upon waving the toys in front of him, Adrien made just as quick work in snatching them both up. Nathalie watched him play for a moment, before setting him back in his crib and picking up his discarded book from earlier. Figuring this would be as good a time as ever to get back to reading, she flipped open to the spot she had left off at- and proceeded to slam the book shut.

"Adrien, I'm going to try to be the best mother to you as I can be, but I don't think these books are going to help me any." She admitted, setting the book onto a high shelf and turning back to the baby.

"No?" Adrien's only known word.

"Nope." Nathalie smiled, heading back over to the crib. "I'm going to have to learn while you learn to be a good boy."

"No!" The child announced proudly, waving his rattle around.

Shaking her head, the bluenette looked down at her wrist-watch and noted the time. It was only 12:14am, and she wasn't needed for anything for the next few hours according to her mental schedule. Then again, these sleepless nights were beginning to flip things on their heads- mostly hers for that matter. With that in mind, she quickly decided that a quick peak at her schedule wouldn't hurt.

"I'll be right back, Adrien."

With that said, she hurried down the hallway to where her bedroom was set up, intending to grab her schedule and return with it- but she stopped in her tracks when she tossed open the door and found a third pain in her side- A short, old man, wearing the same red Hawaiian shirt that Nathalie was SURE he owned hundreds of- At least, he always seemed to be wearing them whenever they would bump into each other. He wasn't really a friend, more so an acquaintance who from time to time, Nathalie would visit to talk about life's woes with. Their meetings were usually few and far between, but they were never brief, and ever since Adrien had been added to her responsibilities, they had become almost non-existent.

"Fu..." Nathalie bluntly greeted, walking straight passed the man.

"Nat." Fu smiled, brushing off the woman's bluntness. "It has been a while, my friend-"

"And for good reason." She huffed, grabbing her paper schedule off of her bedside table. "To what do I owe this visit?"

The old man frowned suddenly, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a small, wooden box from it. perched on the closed lid, there was a pin in the shape and colour of a peacock.

"You seemed to have forgotten thi-" Fu began, only to be cut off.

"I didn't forget it- I was returning it." The frown only grew with that response.

"Returning it? My dear, one does not "return" their miraculous. It chose YOU to-" Once again, he was cut off.

"I have to return it... Something came up recently and it requires my full attention." Nathalie sighed, rubbing her temple. "Isn't there someone else who could-"

"I'm cutting you off this time, because there isn't." Fu huffed, limping over to the woman and offering up the pin once more. "Besides, I am sure that Adrien would absolutely thrive with a superhero for a mother."

"... I wouldn't be able to keep that up."

A cry from the other room suddenly had Nathalie's full attention, and she raced back to Adrien's nursery, Fu following behind at his own pace.

"Nonsense. You've been at this since you were 17. How hard could it be?" Fu mused, somehow reaching the crib before Nathalie and taking up Adrien.

"Easier said than done." Nathalie mused, watching as Adrien cooed happily at their unexpected visitor.

"I'm not forcing you to take back whats yours, my friend." Fu said calmly, withdrawing the box once more and placing it on Adrien's toy chest. "But perhaps you should keep this and think it over?"

With a soft sigh, Nathalie was offered the child back. His weight was barely anything in her arms, but the weight of the box that she wasn't even holding was everything. Casting her eyes to it, she took a moment to study it over closely.

"I'll think about it." She said, her eyes never leaving her.

"Who knows? It may help you learn to raise him in the long run."

"What do you mean-" Nathalie's eyes snapped back from the box and back to where Fu once was.

However, he wasn't there when she did, and she found herself looking around the nursery once again.

This time, her parenting book was the only thing on the floor again. It was opened to the page she had closed it on.


	2. A Day In The Life of Nathalie

Early mornings in the park were one of the simplest pleasures in life that that were usually enjoyed. Sometimes they could be a little less enjoyable if a stray cloud or chill found its way down from where ever it came from. However, today the little duo were lucky enough to find that a park they were in today was warm and dry, as well as serving as the location for some much needed bonding with a fill-in-parent and child.

"Its now- 59 degrees outside." Nathalie noted, blocking the sun's glare on her tablet with her hand. "In the middle of Spring, this is almost summer weather."

Baby Adrien giggled at the announcement, kicking his legs back a forth in his swing and reaching for the tablet. With a gentle huff, Nathalie unblocked the device and began to push Adrien as best she could. With a bit of effort, she managed to get the swing going again, watching as blonde curls bopped around happily as the swing came back. Soon, however, the child seemed to loose interest in the motion of swinging, and began to reach for his guardian once again.

"Not fun anymore, Adrien?" Nathalie sighed, lifting the baby carefully out of the swing with one arm. "I was hoping I'd be able to get some work done while you were distracted..."

Shaking his head at the completely absurd thought, or so it looked, Adrien began to lean towards the slide and fought his way as best he could to get to it. Nathalie got the message, and walked him over to the rows of slides that the park had to offer. Since it was early, there weren't many other kids or adults at the park yet, giving them free reign over most of the equipment. It gave the oldest of the pair a bit of comfort, knowing that they could play/work in private. Placing Adrien at the top of the side, Nathalie was about to release his sides when-

"What a beautiful little girl you have." Well, there went that privacy of theirs, completely.

A frail, older looking woman stood beside the slide, her foggy eyes focused on Adrien. By now, the bouncing child was trying to push himself down the slide. His chubby face was twisted in determination as he struggled against Nathalie's hold, grunting in frustration. Static from the plastic clung to his already messy and wind brushed curls, and Nathalie felt her face flush in embarrassment over the child's current state. Still, she wasn't about to let him go while on the verge of a conversation with someone who barely knew them.

"Hes usually more beautiful, but he wouldn't let me brush his hair today." While she hated being passive aggressive, Nathalie also hated correcting others bluntly.

"Oh, hes still beautiful." The woman commented, smiling up at Adrien. "How old is he?"

"7 months." Nathalie noted.

Quickly, she released Adrien from her hold and watched him happily slide down the tube. With a sigh of relief, she made her way to the end of the tube and collected the happy baby once more. Once more, she turned to look at the woman, just in case she was still looking to talk to them.

'Mah!' Adrien cooed, starting the conversation up himself.

"7 months? Sleeping through the night, I assume." The woman laughed, "He would have to be. You're up so early with him."

"For the most part."

While Adrien had been sleeping on his own, Nathalie was usually only up so early due to her job as both an assistant and as a guardian. Regardless if either of them got any sleep the night before or not. She had a schedule for both positions and was accustomed to following it. Even now, when she could have gotten away with sleeping an extra hour instead of airing the baby out and dealing with a crushing headache and a rather forced conversation with a stranger over someone else's baby-

"Is he your first baby?" The woman went on, cutting her train of thought short.

"N-no." Nathalie cringed inward, toggling with the different ways she could say 'he came with the job'. "I'm just the personal assistant."

Instead of replying, the woman just looked at Nathalie curiously, her dark and beady eyes flickering a little. Either she was studying Nathalie or judging her, and she honestly didn't care to stick around and find out which it was.

"I'm sorry, but we should be going-" Nathalie began, only to stop when Adrien suddenly grabbed the slide in a death grip. "Adrien, we have to go home."

"No!" Adrien announced, his grip never faltering.

"Adrien, we can come back to the park later." Nathalie sighed, gently trying to loosen his hands. "Please?"

Adrien whined, but eventually relented and let go of the slide, turning his body so he could cling to Nathalie instead. He buried his face in her chest in what Nathalie could only assume was an apologetic gesture for misbehaving, or something of that nature.

"Just the personal assistant?" The older woman echoed, shaking her head slowly. "I shouldn't say anything, but I'd like to see most parents do what you just did."

"I've never had a problem with Adrien, ma'am." Her face flushed once again, her gaze focusing down on the child softly.

Nathalie recognized the discontempt in the woman's voice, and would undoubtedly have found it in her eyes if she looked up. Regardless of how anyone felt about the job, Nathalie couldn't find it in herself to detest her job. Sure she was raising a child that wasn't hers, given absolutely no credit for it either, most likely building up to a painful rift that would surely come when Adrien would be old enough to take care of himself without her. Eventually simmering down into a few forgotten years that he wouldn't bother to mention or acknowledge in his adult years. Even with all of those bitter thoughts in mind, she found that she just couldn't hate taking care of Adrien now.

Without looking up, she heard the woman shuffle away from them. As bad as it made Nathalie feel, being cold like that, she didn't think about it much. Her job was to take care of Adrien and keep him happy and well-rounded. The details could be sweated later on.

"Lets get you home, Adrien." A little squeak from him gave Nathalie the okay to proceeded with leaving. "I think you could use a nap."

This was code for "work on that important thing you were supposed to be working on while Adrien was distracted."  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Are you even listening?"

Nap time had been an utter fail, and Nathalie now found herself struggling to catch up on her other work with Adrien as her 'assistant'. This arrangement created more havoc for the real assistant, as the little one attempted to chew her table and scribble on her documents in crayon. All the while, a phone conference had been going on and the woman's only saving grace was that the others on the other line couldn't see her. She'd just kill herself now if her boss and her associates saw her struggle like this.

"Yes, I'm still listening." Nathalie tried to keep any and all disdain out of her voice, struggling with the phone on her shoulder and the child that just wasn't having anything. "Just trying to find a document-."

"Is that so?" One voice asked sounding amused.

If she could straggle Gabriel over the phone, Nathalie would have considered it.

"Yes." She huffed, taking the phone off of its speaker and placing it up to her ear.

In reality, the document she was searching for had been snatched up by Adrien, who had scribbled a beautiful picture of whatever onto it and then proudly taped it to Nathalie's laptop cover... With a stapler. How he managed to achieve this in the two minutes it took Nathalie to answer the phone, she had no idea.

"Very well then. I'll leave you to it then." The other said, suddenly hanging up the phone and leaving Nathalie fuming.

While it wasn't like they were hiding Adrien from their associates, it was still preferred that he not be mentioned during business related calls. While this could have been avoided completely by sticking him in his crib and leaving him there until work was finished, Nathalie always felt better when she was able to see her ward for herself and know for certain that he was happy and safe.

With a heavy sigh, Nathalie set down her phone and looked down at the little boy, who was now innocently looking up at her with his green little eyes. Clutched between his fingers was a mantilla envelope, which he promptly offered back to its rightful owner. Sighing heavily, she stroked his hair a little and instead kissing his head as she took the folder back from his hands.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to reprint a few things." She mused, lifting Adrien up and kissing his cheek again.

"No!" Adrien cooed, hugging her tightly around the neck suddenly.

"I can tell that you're not going to let go of me anytime soon..." There was a laugh in her town before she began nuzzling him playfully. "So I guess you'll have to be my assistant for a little longer."

Adrien pouted his little cheeks out, holding onto his tightly as she walked over to his baby seat that was set up in the corner of her office. She didn't plan on setting him down though. She could easily print and file with him attached to her, but something on the seat had caught her eye. A brown box, with red etching on it was seated right at the center of the chair's blue cushion.

"I forgot about that." A slight smile found its way onto her red lips as she scooped the box up. "What do you think, Adrien? Having a superhero as a guardian?"

Adrien's eyes went big as he reached for the box. Nathalie adjusted him onto one hip and held the box at a distance before opening it. Sitting proudly in its box and shining a bright blue, was her Miraculous pin. The Peacock Miraculous, to be exact. She had been carrying that box with her ever since she had gotten it back, and put it in plain sight to remind herself to think about the offer. Now would be as good a time as ever to think for a bit. They were alone in the office and there was no chance of anyone accidentally overhearing them without her noticing it first.

"Do you like it, Adrien?" She cooed, watching as he smiled at his reflection in the pin. "My friend says it might help me take care of you."

"Oh!" The pin box was closed quickly, and placed on the desk, just out of sight of anyone who may walk in.

"I was supposed to keep this a secret from everyone, even my friends." Nathalie smiled, looking down at Adrien. "But I'm telling you because I trust you with this."

"No?" The only word he knew wouldn't be enough to out her former identity.

"No- Not that I had a lot of friends when I took the pin." A small frown played on both of their faces. "... Its a short story, actually."

Adrian's eyes suddenly lit up at the word 'story' and he patiently folded his hands against his tummy and gave her his full attention, just as she had taught him to do whenever she would read to him.

"You want to hear it, Adrien?" She mused, looking at the pin for a moment to help call the events back to memory. "Okay, this all started when I was only 17 years old-"  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FLASHBACK:

Late fall was never Nathalie's favorite time of year.

The world was slowly dying around her, and the cold air that was creeping its way in between the folds of her knitted jacket was enough to make her skin crawl with both goosebumps and irritant. She would have loved nothing more than to return back to her front room and wrap herself up in every blanket she could find, ditching her buttonless jacket, but she didn't. She pressed on, trudging further through the world of wet, dead leaves, sighing bitterly at how unsatisfying a "slosh" was when compared to the "crunch!' that was a fresh leaf falling under foot.

"Therapy isn't worth the walk." The 17 year old commented, biting down on the inside of her cheek to distract herself from the cold. "Or the $75 a month..."

Therapy had been her mother's suggestion, after all, and her mother usually had more than one bad idea that she would enforce. Walking to the building had been the second bad idea, but she insisted that "airing herself out" would help her get herself out of the three year old rut she had dug herself into since starting high school. So far, the last two months of this hadn't been helping Nathalie at all.

"How soon can I quit this?" She asked outloud, stopping directly in front of her destination.

She wasn't talking to herself. As her 'therapist' was sitting on his front stoop, as he always did when he was expecting her to visit him. Despite the cold, he was clad only in a Hawaiian shirt, khaki pants, and sandals. As part of this uniform, he also wore the warmest of smiles.

"Quit? My dear, you've just started making progress." He called to her, opening his front door to her. "Come in. Its getting a little cold out."

Frowning, Nathalie trudged the rest of the way in and wiped her shoes off on the mat in the front room. As was her own custom, she removed her shoes, but kept her coat on.

"You should consider purchasing a few buttons for your coat." Fu chided, going over to a nearby teapot to test the water. "I offered to sew them on for you too."

"Its fine..." The teenager muttered, wrapping it further around her person.

"Let me see if I can find something else for it." The teapot was forgotten suddenly, and the old man shuffled further into his home. "Aside from that, why don't you tell me about your day?"

"My day? Its the same as it always is." Nathalie sighed, sinking into a nearby arm-chair.

"Find any good leaves to crunch?" Sounds of loud rummaging prevented Nathalie from answering right away.

"None what so ever." She couldn't help but smile a little. "The world is dead as dirt out there..."

"Not dead, my dear, just sleeping." Fu turned back to her suddenly, in his hands, he held a box. "All children sleep before they are born."

"Do you always have a fortune cookie phrase for me?" Nathalie scoffed, adjusting her jacket once more.

"You always have one for me. You give me much to think about whenever you visit." The box was set down, and Fu returned to his teapot. "It gives me something to do and that lightens my day."

"Ditto." A cup of what looked to be Jasmine tea was placed before Nathalie, and she gently picked it up and held it.

Her fingers were red from the cold, and the hot outside of the cup always helped to warm them up during visits. Once she took a sip of it, Fu took his own seat just across from her, and took up the box once more. As much as she didn't want to seem like she cared, it was times like these that she felt okay and even wonder about the world around her. She took a certain curiosity for what was in the box, and leaned forward a little to hopefully catch a glimpse of it.

"I think this will help with your coat." Fu began, opening the box slowly and removing its contents from it.

A beautiful pin now sat on the table between them. Brilliant blue in colour and shaped like the tail of a Peacock with gems to match. To Nathalie, it was stunning, but Fu seemed to have less interest in it.

"I-I can't use this." Nathalie gasped, looking up at him quickly. "This is something you'd put on a million dollar dress-"

"Nathalie, its just a pin." Fu offered kindly. "Appearances mean nothing. It isn't special just by sitting in a box, but it could be a very special pin if used to fix a jacket."

"Are you serious?" Another scoff.

"Very serious." There was that smile again. "When I first met you, you looked like a very plain child, but now you are just as special in my eyes as that pin will be on your jacket. You give it something to do, and are sharing your time and world with it."

Nathalie frowned, reaching out gently and taking the pin into her own hands. As much as she wanted to correct him, change his mind to believe what she thought, she knew that he would always view things the way he did. With a deep sigh, she undid the clasp and pinned the two halves of her coat closed.

"Thank you."  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Thats the important part... Finding out that it was magic was just a whirlwind." Nathalie concluded, looking down at the now sleeping Adrien.

Looking down at her once beloved pin, she frowned. In its box, it was an ordinary pin with no significance or story behind it. Much like how she must have looked to others whenever she was with Adrien. Some saw her as an ordinary mother, while she knew better about herself. Ever since she started taking care of Adrien, her life had been very stressful and even painful at times, but it was never dull and lifeless as she had once felt it was. Same as when she first accepted her pin and role as a Miraculous holder so long that in mind, she looked away from the box and made her way over to the printer to finish her days work.


End file.
